The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1887-03-05
A yAREFooTED KING.
The Shabby Monarch WAC Rules Over u,
Queer Mosquito Kingdom.

Queer Mosquito Kingdom.
He lay in hammock when / saw him
first, with his feet hanging over tho side,
fast asleep. Not bad-looking man, but
rather soiled. He wore white cotton
shirt and a pair Of pantaloons to match
instead Of the royal crminc, and l was told
they were the only garments his Majesty
owned, writes Beverly Crump in the Louis
vile Courier-Joarndl. The man saw in tho
hammock was George William Albert
Handy, King Of the Mosquitoes.
The Mosquito Kingdom Is narrow strip
of land two hundred miles long, on the
eastern side Of Nicaragua, and fronting OH
the Caribbean Sea. On our maps tits called
the Mosquito Reservation. The ancestors
OF George William Albert Handy all have
been crowned under the auspices of the
British Government, and have always been
recognized by 1t rs real Kings. The pres
ent King does not dress or act any
better than most of the natives. He was
educated at Jamaica, where he was baptized
and received as a member of the Church OF
England, but has since fallen very far from
grace He Is about forty years of age, small
of stature and has an intelligcnt-looking
face. fhe would let rum alone, those who
know him say that he would amount to
something, but he spends all the money he
begs more from the merchants and traders
OF the place, who are glad to give him
small sums and in return get royal favors.
The Government Is managed in the name
of the King by an American, formerly
from New Orleans, whose name is Cuth-
bert.
The King lives with his mother, his
grandmother and his own family in
shanty that was taken to Bcwfelds from
the United States by some robbcr- hunters
and abandoned years ago. The royal
palace is upholstered and Is without any Of
the "modern improvements' that house,
owners in this country advertise 1t only
differs from those of the rest of the people
by being built of rough pine boards instead
of bamboo poles, is covered with u roof of
the same instead of palm leaves and bull
rushcs, and it has board floor raised two
or three feet from the ground instead of
mother earth. Bat tho thutched huts of
the natives are much better for the
climate, as they are cooler, and shed the
rain in the wet season, which the royal
roof will not.
His Majesty and the rest of the family
either sleep in hammoclSs or on the floor,
and they always go to bed with their
clothes on. Such thing as u night gown
was never heard of, and if the Queen or
the dowager should receive present of
one she would doubtless keep it for party
dress, as it would be so much better in
, texture and pattern than the garment she
wears during the day. Her costume is in
variably a speckled calico gown, such as
one would pay five cents yard for in the
i United States, and she never has but one
at time. This dress she wears night and
day until it Is worn out, and often longer;
and there is nothing else between it and
her skin.
More than one garment is considered SUI.
perfuous, on1 that is often abbreviated.
The ladies of the royal family as well as
the men do not have any shoes or stock
ings and would not wear them if they ad.
, The King wears a white cotton shirt and a
pair Of pantaloons of the same material,
and is considered quite we'll dressed.
The pigs the chickens and the babies all
stand on an equality in the palace, and it is
aquestion which fares best. The heir to
! the throne of Mosquito has to struggle for
! his bread; for he does not sit at n mahog-
any table and eat it with golden spoon off
silver plate, but has it flung to him as he
crawls on the floor, and if he doesn't grab
it quickly the pigs or the chickens will
get it first. The King does not ride in a
chariot, nor is he waited upon by lordly-
looking servants in livery. He walks
when he goes anywhere, and hasn't seen
any vehicle but an oX-cart since he came
from Jamaica nearly twenty years ago.
| His wife and mother do their own cook
ing, and use an iron kettle hanging over q
| fire outdoors for every dish, such as farm
| ers' wives in the United States make soap.
| His Majesty seldom gets beefsteak, and
| doubt if he knows what lamb-chop is;
| but he is fond Of monkey meat, and eats ii
! as often and likes it just as well as we dc
| chicken. And he has an abundance OF
| what we in the United States consider one
| Of the greatest luxuries, green turtle.
Besides monkeys and turtles, the King
: has plenty of oysters to eat, with bread
| fruit, bananas and q great many other de.
licious fruits that we know nothing about,
| as they are so delicate that they can not be
brought away from the country. He
smokes cigarettes constantly, while his
| wife, the Queen, and his mother, the dow
| ager, smoke cigars when they can ge,
| them. The ladies of the family can not
| read, and there is small chance of the little
| Princesses and Princes learning unless
| they 60 to the Moravian school.
The Mosquitoes have some queer Gus.
| toms. They do not have any weddings as
we do, but the little boys and girls are be-
| trothed by their parents when they arc
ten or eleven years old. The boy, as soor
as his wife is selected, goes to her fathers
| house to live, and remains there until
they are married; unless it happens thai
they do not like each other, in which case
| he goes to his old home and his father looks
for some other girl.
| Their funerals are quite as curious. When
any one dies the place of burial is at once
| selected and cotton thread Of cord is
stretched from the grave to the house, no
matter now far it may be or what obstacles
| are in the road. After the burial every
thing that belonged to the dead person is
burned, and If he owned any animals they
are killed over his grave, as the people be-
lieve the dead need all they had in this
/ world in the other.
| They never speak of the dead and do not
think of them il it is possible to forget
The belief is that to speak of q dead man
will awaken his spirit.